Dinner! 2014 (Part 3)

[mm84321]

 

 

Can someone tell me the word for the lovely brown bits with the drippings? It made fabulous gravy!

 

 

In French, "sucs de cuisson". 

[basquecook]

i always thought it was fond but, brown bits works just as well

[huiray]

A simple late dinner – Duck fat fried rice. 

Duck fat, chopped-up baby candy onion w/ its greenery, two farm eggs scrambled in situ, 3-day-old rice, some salt.  Eaten w/ baechu kimchi.

 

[rotuts]

Hurray !

 

the Big Easy is Back !

 

[Dejah]

Thanks, basquecook! "fond" is the word I was looking for; and "sucs de cuisson" sounds quite impressive, mm84321!

 

rotuts: So happy to finally be able to do the Big Easy without winter coverings.  Now, it's mosquito repellent!

 

Happy to see more halibut postings. We were able to have another feed of fresh halibut this week from Sobeys.

 

After smearing the thick fillets with mayo containing olive oil, added freshly grated ginger and unsweetened shredded coconut to the panko crumbs this time. Quick sear in the pan and finished in the oven with the carrot fries and cauliflower. We loved the texture and taste of fresh fish!

 

[mm84321]

i always thought it was fond but, brown bits works just as well

 

"Fond" means stock, as in "foundation" of cuisine. "Sucs" refer to the caramelized bits that gather on the bottom of the pan. I think the CIA tells you that they are called "fond", but they are actually wrong. 

[rotuts]

Dejah:  speaking of Outdoor BBQ mosquitos, I recently discovered this tool that might help out:

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=fly+swatter

 

works well.

 

Unwise to use indoors near your fine china and FR. crystal.

[Unpopular Poet]

So, this weekend, my Wife and I hosted a party which basically consisted of experimenting with Modernist techniques.  I cook sous vide probably 3-4 times a week -- this was a time for experimentation -- and it was fun as hell.  I had just recently gotten my MVS-35XP, and put it to work on my end -- I was in charge of sweetbreads, foie gras, venison shank, trout, beef heart and lobster.  My wife was in charge of the salad and some deserts.  Our friend also contributed some awesome dishes of shrimp and grits, smoked scallops with pickled chorizo, bacon and egg ice cream and some amazing cocktails.  Here is the breakdown:

 

My wife's absolutely amazing cucumber salad -- modeled off of a dish from the Alinea cookbook.  Simply visually stunning as well as delicious.

Sous vide beef heart with a red wine veal stock reduction, spinached whip cream with dehydrated spinach and Parmesan, served with a lobster tail sous vided with clarified butter and foie gras scraps.   The sauce was basically the butter and melted foie from the bag.

Venison shank served with mashed potatoes - nothing special there, except for perhaps the mashed potatoes.  I had followed the Ideas in Food temp for the venison, and in hindsight, it would have been easier to handle if all of the connective tissue and  fat had melted.  The taste was there, but so much of it was wasted on removing the sinewy and chewy parts.  

Sweetbreads which were cooked sous vide, briefly fried and then served over a bed of day-lily stalks from the garden.

Seared foie gras with a sauternes and cracked pepper duck marshmallow, served with red grape and sauternes sauce. 

Trout fused with prosciutto, cooked sous vide and then crisped in the left over foie gras fat (this was probably the most decadent fish I have ever had -- and will probably never happen again, as I can't see a scenario where I will have that much leftover fat from cooking off the foie gras.  The trout was served with wilted spinach, but needed nothing.

My wife's desert of bread pudding with smoke gel and other treats (also from Alinea I think) -- amazing.

My buddy's bacon and egg ice cream with bloody mary celery.  So damn good.

Smoked Manhattans

End of the Night Blues...

 

Sorry for the long post -- this was something we had been working on for a while, and it came off without a hitch.  I definitely had my fill of lots of things, and will not have to run out and buy a whole foie gras anytime soon.

 

 

(Not pictured were the shrimp and grits, scallops and crispy skinned raw salmon.)

[mm84321]

Giant pasta with cockles and confit tomatoes

[Paul Bacino]

Poor Picture--But the Copper River Salmon with Creamed Leeks/ roasted Brussels sprout/Tomato Onion Salad  was really good!!

 

 

Someone messed with my Camera settings.. darn kids 

[basquecook]

Repeat

Edited May 28, 2014 by basquecook (log)

[basquecook]

Looks great unpopular poet.. Can you tell me what sous vide does to a lobster tail.. is there an advantage, does it taste better or have a different texture than say, dropping it into boiling salted water for a few minutes.  

 

Just curious as to how the two compare.  Between steaming, boiling and sous vide?

[huiray]

Lettuce stems w/ short-cut pork spare ribs.  Sautéed/stir-fried w/ lots of chopped garlic, salt, hon-mirin, shaohsing wine, drunken chicken marinade.  Eaten w/ Fuzhou-type wheat noodles.

 

[Anna N]

The cupboard is looking a little bare at the moment. One sad looking russet potato, baked and buttered, topped with mustard chicken (frozen leftover from David Leibovitz' My Paris Kitchen).

[Unpopular Poet]

Looks great unpopular poet.. Can you tell me what sous vide does to a lobster tail.. is there an advantage, does it taste better or have a different texture than say, dropping it into boiling salted water for a few minutes.  

 

Just curious as to how the two compare.  Between steaming, boiling and sous vide?

 

Thanks!  So the servings of the lobster tail were pretty minimal -- but I found that the end result had a slightly less firm texture than a boiled lobster tail -- in a positive way.  It was all in the flavor though -- at the end of the day, I had portioned the foie gras and was left over with some scraps -- I decided to seal them up running across the underside of the peeled lobster tails, along with a good tablespoon of clarified butter.  The flavor was what made the difference -- but that was based on portioning -- a whole tail of this richness would have been almost too much -- I usually grill lobster tails -- and this was better -- the consistency was a very tender firm -- meaning it wasn't mushy -- slightly more tender than a nicely boiled or steamed tail.

[mmille24]

 

Fava bean soup with radishes, black truffle royale

 

 

 

 

Looks amazing. Is it served cold?

[mm84321]

Thanks. It's a hot soup. 

[Fernwood]

 

Halibut with squid ink pasta, chive butter

 

What are the light-colored nuggets around the fish... cuts from some bivalve?  Intriguing!

[Paul Bacino]

Late Night Snack Dinner-- With Rafanelli #12 zin and BlackHawk game

 

 

Brown sugar--Parameswaran's Peppercorns-Pink Salt

 

My rhubard// Peeled and dressed

[huiray]

• Miso soup.  Water, hon-dashi, cut wakame, soft tofu slices, aka miso, chopped scallions.

• Soba (w/ yam).  Dressed w/ kizami nori.  Dipping sauce of hon-tsuyu, hon-mirin, water, ryori-shu (everything just brought to a boil then poured off, cooled), chopped scallions, izu oroshi-wasabi.

 

 

[Anna N]

In an attempt to eat more fruit and vegetables and less meat and starches, this dish of stir fried long beans was supposed to be my dinner.

However on a visit to the Asian store yesterday I came across these:

Legal crack! The road to hell and all that....

[rotuts]

Wow.  nice tip.  im on the trail looking out for these.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emping

 

 

 

Host's note:  these intriguing snacks led to a side discussion that was subsequently split and moved to two more-appropriate topics.  

Emping Padas are discussed in more depth here:  Your favorite hot/spicy snack?

The discussion about Asian markets can be found in the topic of the same name:  Asian Markets.

 

 

[liuzhou]

This is my go-to late home from work, tired and hungry, I need food quick dish and last night was one of those occasions.

 

Minced pork with stir-fried  雪菜 (xuě cài) or 'snow greens' which is salt fermented mustard greens. I also used some garlic and Thai chilli pepper in the mix. Served with rice and buttery asparagus (not pictured), And a beer.

 

[Kim Shook]

Anna – perfect looking Scotch eggs.  I haven’t made them in years.  Need to remedy that.

 

dcarch – congratulations on your win!  Not a bit surprised.  Beautiful dish.

 

Franci – your fritters are beautiful.  If you can get the flavor how you like it, you are set since your technique is obviously perfect!  And those crabs were lovely.  The best part of summer is crabs!

 

Mark – gorgeous ribs.  I would much rather have had those ribs than the dinner I ate out that day.

 

On Saturday we had company – my aunt and her adult grandson.  This dinner comes with a story.  First the food.  I did a sandwich buffet with sides.  Mr. Kim’s smoked turkey breast:

Amazing – so incredibly moist and tender.

 

Ham and roast beef with assorted bread/rolls:

 

Condiments, fixings and assorted cheeses:

 

Pickly stuff:

 

Cheesy egg noodles:

Delicate, tender and slippy.  Almost nursery food, but so good!

 

Devilled eggs:

 

Salad:

One of the simplest salads in the world – just iceberg with a dressing of equal parts light cream, white vinegar and sugar – but delicious.  You let the dressing sit on the tossed salad for 10 minutes and somehow it transforms. 

 

Corn pudding:

From our local grocery store, because they make it better than I ever have.

 

Dessert was coconut chocolate pound cake and Eton mess with lemon curd:

 

 

That’s the food.  Now the story.  My aunt is Ted’s (my stepdad – some of you will remember him) sister from England, visiting her family in Chicago.  Her grandson drove her down here to visit for a few days.  The dinner was in her honor.  I took great pains to make the meal varied, because I knew that my cousin was a picky eater.  When he visited us last year, the only things he ate were eggs, bacon and hamburgers.  My aunt was supposed to be much less problematical.  She was a Navy cook just after WWII and continued to cook for schools after being demobbed.  Momma had spent time with her in England and said she cooked all kinds of things.  When the two of them came back from the buffet table each of their plates had a single slice of meat and a slice of bread.  That was ALL they ate.  My aunt proceeded to say how she detested American food (   ) and when she was here couldn’t wait to get home for good English food (she seemed to be talking about the quality of American ingredients, not the recipes).  I confess that she ate and enjoyed both of the desserts.  I was disgruntled and mortified.  For the first time that I could remember someone was going to leave my house hungry.  I am such a weirdo that it cast a pall over the next couple of days.  Now I can see the funny side – everyone else at the table (Mr. Kim, Jessica, Momma, and a niece and her husband) looking at the almost bare plates with ‘WTF’ expressions, Jessica raving about every bite, my niece and nephew talking about how they are going to miss ‘regular American food’ during their tour of duty in Germany.  And it makes a great story – all who hear it are appalled on my behalf.  And, other than dinner at my house, it was truly a lovely visit and I was glad to see them both.

 

Sorry for the mile long post, but you are the only folks who would truly appreciate this story!

[merstar]

Tonight is peppercorn-crusted filet mignon, baked potato, and green salad.